Headlights OEM Audi or TYC
For anyone looking to do a headlight swap on a first gen these are the (TYC) lights I purchased:
I work at a body shop and I use TYC when I can. They are the best aftermarket HL supplier.
I have some tyc headlights on my 09 chevy colorado and they seem fine. The headlights are almost 2 years old and they still look brand new
I've had good luck with the TYC branded headlights too.
I got all my lenses from Rock Auto. They look great and the tyc headlights came with new bulbs.
Got the Matrix LED headlights and can say they are awesome. Good light all around and those automatic high beams are superb.
They're incredibly bright and clear with perfect color temperature.
Picture 1 is Audis LED headlight, while the later is a standard Xenon/Halogen set up. The Xe/Ha is cheaper to maintain, but the lifespan is a fraction of the LED. The LED headlight lifespan is said to be years of constant use without issue(20,000+ hrs). The downside to LED is if something does go wrong with the headlight, you cant just replace the LED, you replace the whole unit($1,000+ USD if not under warranty)
In my experience they're pretty bad. I had to replace my stock headlights '03 9-3(because all the clips that held the low beams where broken off) I went from barley being able to see at night to still not really being able to see at night. Another problem was the TYCs were missing a piece at the bottom so there was a pretty big panel gap between the bumper and light. The one good thing about them was the headlights themselves looked great.
Edit: As a broke HS student I put weather stripping between the panel gap, and that made it look pretty good. This was 6 years ago they might have improved, but I kinda doubt it
In my experience the TYC headlights I've used have been pretty bad. Beam pattern is scattered all over the place and fit and finish is sub par.
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